A research report from the EBRI Education and Research Fund © 2010 Employee Benefit Research Institute
February 2010 • No. 339
Employers, Workers, and the Future of Employment-Based Health
Benefits
By Stephen Blakely, Employee Benefit Research Institute
E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y
EBRI’S BIANNUAL POLICY FORUM: This Issue Brief summarizes presentations at EBRI’s 65th biannual policy forum,
held in Washington, DC, on Dec. 10, 2009, on the topic, “Employers, Workers, and the Future of Employment-Based
Health Benefits.” The forum brought together a wide range of economic, benefits, management, and labor experts to
share their expertise at a time when major health reform legislation was being debated in Congress. The focus: How
might this affect the way that the vast majority of Americans currently get their health insurance coverage?
THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED HEALTH INSURANCE SYSTEM: Most people who have health insurance coverage in the
United States get it through their job: In 2008, about 61 percent of the nonelderly population had employment-based
health benefits, 19 percent were covered by public programs, 6 percent had individual coverage, and 17 percent were
uninsured.
DIFFERENCES, AGREEMENTS: Not surprisingly, given the deep conflicts that exist over President Obama’s health
reform plan and the different bills that have passed the House and Senate, benefits experts also do not agree on what
“health reform” will mean for either workers or employers. Views ranged from “Will anyone notice?” to predictions of
great upheaval for workers and their employers, patients and health care providers, and the entire U.S. health care
system. One point of consensus among both labor and management representatives: Imposing a tax on health benefits
is likely to cause major cuts in health benefits and might result in structural changes in the employment-based benefits
system. A common disappointment voiced at the forum was that the initial effort to reform the delivery and cost of
health care in Amer